Beneath a Hunter's Cape
by Read Write Remembrance
Summary: After a fateful incident that have put him below the gaze of two gods, one boy have been gifted with the power to stand among heroes and villains alike. And now, Jaune Arc would learn that his dream of secret identities and colored spandex costumes is not as bright as what he thought it would be... But still, he would not falter... After all, he always wanted to be a real hero.
1. Rise - 1-01

**An AU of a universe crossed with another AU element of another universe. I know this is a train wreck waiting to happen, but I really want to do this.**

 **This would be written in a first person PoV**

 **Nothing belongs to me here, Worm and RWBY is by Wildbow and Rooster Teeth respectively.**

* * *

 **Rise – 1.01**

Another gunshot rang from a store away, sending another wave of panicking people to run blindly into all possible directions. I'm surprised nobody has run towards the area where the shots are fired, because Remnant won't be what it is if it doesn't have the crazies and the fame seekers hoping to take some videos or pictures to upload on the huntsman online forums. But apparently, everyone on this city has a sense of self-preservation and decided to run away towards safety.

Well, almost everyone except me.

In my defense, I am neither crazy nor starving for internet fame, and is only a concerned citizen hoping that nothing bad happened to the people caught in the crossfire. Even if it means throwing myself at the flames.

Blame me; I always wanted to be a hero.

Damn, that sounds cringe-worthy even in my head.

Ignoring my cheesy inner monologue, I hurried directly into where the firefight is happening. Hoping that whatever gang-of-the-week this colony has, have gotten their itchy trigger finger scratched is generous enough to only engage with their normal mooks.

Two more turns on the dark empty night roads and I saw an innocent looking bookstore, its windows and doors thankfully having no visible holes from the firefight that happened. The light inside is still illuminating the storefront and everything is still in place, the only clue leading to it being the place where the fight has happened is all the damaged cars, burning trash cans, and the visible bullet-hole filled concrete on the outside of the building.

The area is too silent, the sounds of gunfire long gone before I even made one block on my way towards the bookstore. I quickly found out the reason why.

Good news, there is no longer an ongoing battle. The other side of the firefight probably decided to make a full-on retreat. Leaving no trace of any of the known gang colors for me to identify whoever they are.

Bad news, the winner is now inside the bookstore of all places, doing what they do best. Well, besides from ruining their own ideals and representing their race in a bad way.

Faunus harassment campaign.

I stopped, quickly crouching behind a car to hide myself from the White Fang members within the establishment, while praying to the brothers that nobody saw me dumbly sprinting in the middle of an abandoned road. I might be a self-proclaimed hero, but I'm not that dumb, and charging with only bravery and determination in your heart against armed terrorist can only result in a quick martyrdom.

I know most of them have enhanced senses, and if I'm unlucky enough, those who have a greater sense of hearing have probably heard me approaching already. My only hope is if their ears are still ringing from the fight that happened, or if they have none of those faunus who have a good sense of hearing.

A man can only hope.

I looked up, thanking the brothers for my still holding luck. None of them saw me; too busy threatening and harassing the poor faunus shopkeeper while some of them continued pointing their weapons at the line of hostages, almost all of them armed with handguns with that one poor guy with a baseball bat.

There are a total of five of them, four wearing civilian clothes that hide most of their features. While the one wielding the bat oddly wears the most decorated of them all, sporting a greyish-white sleeveless trench coat with an over-exaggerated collar reaching towards his upper neck.

Strange.

Even if with the store's bright lighting illuminating them completely, I still can't take a good look at their features as every single one of them wears a white, animal shaped mask that completely hides their faces. The masks are too concealing, even managing to conceal their facial faunus features such as their ears.

Only a single one of them guarded the door, taking some occasional glances at the outside before turning back to observe the inside of the store. He is talking with the other person guarding the subdued hostages, laughing and pointing while the bat wielder just stayed silent on the corner, looking at the both of them.

How incompetent can one be?

I eyed the ongoing crime for several seconds, thinking on how to best approach the hostage situation without making it worse. I looked around, spotting for any kind of backdoor or blind-spot on the store.

Which unfortunately proved to be useless, as the bookstore is placed in a connected apartment block. I need to encircle the area to find the back-alley entrance to the building, and who knows what would happen to the hostages while I'm taking my time doing so.

So, plan-A ruined, I started brainstorming for another plan again. Even with only a single guard posted, a gun is a gun. And the moment the guy spotted me, all of his friends inside can just go gang me up and beat me to death.

Or just shoot me and be done with it.

I sighed, wishing that I was some kind of a brute that can just walk through gunfire while laughing every kind of damage, or a mover that can rush them before they can pull the trigger. Hell, even a master power to make them peacefully surrender would be nice right now, public consequences be damned.

I thought for several more minutes while anxiously observing the ongoing situation inside the store. Nothing happened, the gunman still doing their hostile negotiations while not really harming everyone while the one with the bat started talking with another person on his or her phone.

This made me consider my supposed first plan that I embarrassingly forgot on my rush towards here.

Actually calling the cops.

I cursed myself, before grabbing my dust phone to dial the emergency hotline that I have already memorized due to it being posted in almost every corner of this colony. I waited for someone to pick up the phone while I continued peeking at the ongoing situation inside the store.

It only took until the end of the first ring before someone picked up the phone.

" _Vale Police Force is there any emergency?"_

Finally!

"Umm, yeah, right" I flinched, cursing myself as I almost shouted. "There's an armed group of White Fang members inside the local bookstore, umm, on Turmeric road. I think it's a hostage situation of some sort. Please send help, I don't know what to do." I spouted out of relief.

" _Thanks for reporting Sir. Please don't do anything and stay where you are, we have already dispatched several nearby units at your location. They would arrive on approximately 2 minutes from now."_

"Thanks. I would do that." I whispered, before noticing that there is something happening inside the store. The hostages are still held at gunpoint, unmoving, but the faunus at the counter is now being forced to do something. The one talking with him is now acting more aggressively, dragging him outside of the store counter and into the open space near the other hostages.

" _Thank you Sir. Now, do you know if any hostile huntsman is present at the location? Or is there any sign of power usage you've saw?"_

I was about to answer when things got worse.

First, the bat wielding one has hit the faunus shopkeeper's head with such force that I can hear the impact a street away. The hostages started panicking, which made the two other White Fang member guarding them fire several warning shots at the ceiling.

Second, the armed door guard is now shouting, scrambling to point his gun at my direction.

And lastly, I realized that I moved without thinking. Now I am rushing towards the shop on my own two slow feet, while taking a good look of the barrel of a handgun clearly pointed at me.

While I'm in an empty road without any kind of cover.

Cursing myself, I braced for the inevitable, hearing three loud ring of gunfire before a sudden flare of pain bloomed from my midsection and my thigh. It hurt so much, that I immediately lose my control of my body, impacting the now cold concrete of the midnight road.

The world is already fogging, the light from the lamp-posts now dimming as I slowly lose consciousness. But still, I tried to look up, look towards the shopkeeper I just tried and failed to protect. I can't see them, only man-shaped blurs moving and slowly disappearing, their colors being drowned by the shifting reds and blues that suddenly burst from somewhere.

My hearing is muted now, but I swear I can hear drums and a noisy alarm clock beating at the distance. Or nearby, I can't tell now. Strangely, a sickening crunch followed by a hushed animalistic roar mixed with the other sounds.

I tried to look harder, to see if the faunus is safe and fine. But I can't see clearly no more, the only thing not blurred enough the road in front of me.

The cold road is now wet and warm for some reason.

I almost cried.

Apparently, I didn't even manage to cross half the street before crashing to my now approaching death.

Some kind of hero wannabe am I, can't even save a single person.

And then darkness welcomed me.

* * *

A flash of light, and I am back to the waking world. Or the afterlife, since I'm floating in an endless void without anything. I can't even feel my whole body, and all of my senses are missing, except from my eyesight apparently.

Well, one look and several seconds in, I already know that the afterlife is boring as hell. Nothing here, only a darkness that never covered everything, more like a huge empty box painted on the color of the night than the night itself.

But thankfully, at least the searing pain is no longer there anymore.

Not really 'not there', but more of it is now dulled that I-

In front of me suddenly exploded a million light as bright as the sun, showing an ever-changing kaleidoscope of stars, bursting to existence as their bright shapes moved and stayed in a hypnotic sense. The uncoordinated eruption of solid brightness have took an eternity to fully finish, and in the blink of an eye, everything started to put themselves in place like an impossible puzzle building itself from the ground-up.

I was mesmerized.

The stars took form, shaping themselves into dimensions that don't make sense, dancing at the unheard tune as tiny gigantic flecks of existence flew and swim and danced and slither towards each other. They do not just moved, their motion filled with a sophisticated kind of grace. Too accurate, too stiff to be living, like a perfect machine multiplied by a million-fold.

But still, I just know that the stars are alive, life flickering and dancing in and out of existence.

It took me uncounted infinity before I started to know what the swirling vortex of light is. It is not but lights thrown by the huge formless beings at each other without reason, but it is a part of them. Shards shared by each of them, passed and passed in a loop of knowing and trying to know, endlessly changing and evolving and-

Another burst of blinding light that didn't blind, and reality shuddered. The darkness/not-darkness of the void dissipated, showing the true form of the two massive beings coiling at each other.

And then everything suddenly makes sense.

[DESTINATION]

Two great gods allowed me to grace their endless existence, how they rule the very stars that illuminated everything. Observing and judging and interfering from their thrones beyond the stars.

[QUERY] [DESTINATION]

Both of them fixed in a perpetual dance with each other, only sometimes intentionally missing a step to bless those chosen by them with a fraction of their might. Intervening but not guiding countless empires, only to crush every single one of them with the same power granted to them when they are satisfied with their observation.

[CONCERN] [QUERY] [TRAJECTORY]

A never-ending cycle of creation and destruction, all until the guilt born from an eon of genocide caused one to betray the other. In one single blink of an eye, the betrayer lashed out with its countless swarms of light, most of them having enough power to destroy a world, all thrown towards the unsuspecting god.

[PROPOSAL] [DISAGREEMENT]

One moment uncounted even by a microsecond and the now dead god lose its step, it's now bloated carcass crashing into a gigantic sea of silver, cracking and breaking the luminescent orb as it fell down from its throne.

[QUERY] [SHOCK] [DISAGREEMENT]

But even on its death, the god cursed everything, reality breaking and bending to its dying will. On its command the shard of the silver seas darkened, bleeding monochromatic crimson as it started to fall into a sky of green.

[REGRET] [DETERMINATION]

And I saw it all, every single path that they took, every single from the million timelines split apart like a broken mirror, only to force itself into one as the final blow struck the fallen god. How the fallen have caused the beginning of the end, unleashing the dark of the broken moon to fell yet another unnamed empire on its wake.

[CURIOSITY] [HYPOTHESIS]

And I saw how the betrayer scrambled everything on its path to salvation. Scattering and raining down its infinite number of tears for the life it have called man to fend against the dark by themselves. Forever fading into an existence beyond the veil of reality, never to interfere again.

[OBSERVATION] [RESEARCH] [ANTICIPATION]

And I know no more.

* * *

I woke up in an empty room, the smell of antiseptic quickly flooding my nose, while the mechanical beeps of the heart monitor an irritating ring in my ears. The small room is empty besides my pure white bed and the hospital mechanisms attached to me. There are also several chairs at the furthest side of the room near the closed curtain, but there are no people inside besides me.

I feel light as a feather, the searing pain I clearly remember now long gone as I slowly remembered some of my past memories.

I don't know what happened after I fainted, but I still remember trying to be a hero and getting shot for my effort. But still, I have that feeling that I have forgotten something very grand, something very important. Something related to the two brothers.

Before I can further frustrate myself on thinking about it, the hospital door opened, revealing a middle aged, bespectacled man wearing a doctor's coat. On his two hands is a pile of papers and a cane respectively. He looked at me, smiling faintly before approaching my bed.

"Good day, Mr. Arc"

I flinched.

Well, at least they already know my name. Probably searched my belongings then, since the only thing that can track me back to the Arc family in the Mistral colony walls is my home address written behind a family picture I kept as a lucky charm.

Or probably the limited edition Mistral hero collectible Pumpkin Pete figure I hid at my bag, since those things are only available in Mistral.

He smiled at me, probably ignoring my reaction to his announcement. He started talking again, but I can't hear what he is saying. It's probably something about how I got myself here and the treatment that I have gotten while unconscious. But I ignored it, too focused on thinking about something more important than a doctor saying that I have almost died.

It's not like it's a big deal really, unauthorized colony hopping is only punishable by exile when proved, and only goes up there by stacking dozens of dozens of other smaller law's from what the person have done while illegally settling inside the colony, to their reason for hopping between colonies on the first place.

I shouldn't have interfered with the locals when I'm not one myself. Now I'm heading straight from the hospital, into the prison.

I looked back at the doctor as I noticed that his tangent of medical terms has already stopped.

"And now, Mr. Arc, now that you have almost completely healed from your injuries" The doctor have kept his smile. But now the smile seems to hide something mischievous, like an evil cartoon villain who's about to spring the very evil trap.

"I believe that a talk about you is in order"

 _Fuck._

I can't do anything but smile back and curse my own bad luck.

* * *

 **So, that's it. I would probably be very slow at updating this (and the other story I am doing right now), since I just found myself a job and I'm only rushing the first chapter before my inevitable start to being a working member of society.**

 **Good news, I already have most of the concepts and groundwork done. Unlike Rose Painted Parabellum, a mostly unplanned story that got grounded three chapters up because the ideas stopped flowing or started mixing into absurd, nonsensical stuffs.**

 **Bad news, I have no idea how the story would flow. And I don't know if I would still have some time to spare when I start my work.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading! Feel free to drop your reviews and criticism since I always wanted to improve my writing. I won't lash out I promise!**


	2. Rise - 1-02

**AN: I manage to pull out another chapter before my work orientation.**

 **Thanks for anyone who fav, followed and reviewed!**

 **chickengun99: Thanks for reading and reviewing! To be honest, I started writing this after first reading about [SPOILERS] the space whales and thinking that "oh, so like those two brothers in RWBY."**

 **About the White Fang, I just thought that they equally hated both humans and the faunus that they think betray their extremist belief of superiority. And I believe that gaining material support your own kin through propaganda or force is what some factions actually do (probably... I mean, it would be awkward for the anti-human gang to provide their protection racket to those who they hated). I don't know if I portrayed that correctly, so thanks for pointing out!**

 **And lastly, thanks for informing me about the errors! I'm embarrassed to admit that i'm quite bad at English, and i'm completely depending on the autocorrect function to fill out my errors.**

 **Anyway...**

 **Worm and RWBY belongs to Wildbow and Rooster Teeth respectively.**

* * *

 **Rise – 1.02**

" _-earlier this week, the confirmed reassignment of local hero Walpurgis to the brewing Mistral conflict has officially lowered the Vale colony's adult hero count to one. On a more good news, a local White Fang initiation have been interrupted by the heroic act by-"_

I sighed, before focusing my attention away from the television. Seeing your own face in the news is exciting at first, but all of its novelty is lost now as the local news still continued talking about you for almost a week by now.

I looked at the room's window, trying to think of what I would be doing by now. My face is now pasted on almost every television channel and local newspapers. And last I checked on the dust net, most people on the Hunstman-Online forums are still speculating if I am really a 'normal' or if I actually have some hidden combat Thinker power. Assuming the guy who just called the police, run, then got shot up have a power at all.

I imagined myself being a thinker negative. Passive mental ability to lack awareness of every combat hazard to self.

Yeah…. right.

Anyway, now that I am currently the celebrity of the week, the medical staffs have not allowed me to leave even my tiny hospital room. Not only to hide from any kind of payback from the fang, but also towards any nosy paparazzi-types curious enough to know more about me or my non-existent thinker power.

Not like anyone would actually investigate deeper. After all, the Carrions have shown what would happen if people got their curiosity ahead of themselves, and the Month of Decay is still fresh to the people's mind.

So yeah, there's a big no to unmasking, intentional or not. Better stay with speculating about powers… and maybe shipping.

Also apparently during my encounter with the White Fang, one of the supposed generic mook is actually a powered villain with the name 'Feral'. Changer if I remember correctly, with the power to transform into a bony werewolf thing with a weird chainsaw teeth and spinning claw arms…

I don't know how that works, but it sounds gruesome and cool at the same time.

And good thing the guy decided that he's too superior to even notice me, saving my sorry hide from the tragedy of being turned into a once-human blob of mincemeat.

I'm going off-topic.

Back on the issue, turns out the White Fang can really hold their grudges.

First day in on the hospital, and 'anonymous people' had already send me their 'get well' and 'best regards', beautiful looking letters containing flowery words like 'another prey for the fang', 'there would not be a next time' and the more vocal ones I don't want to remember.

Second day and I was forcedly removed and transferred into a more safe location because of an implied attempt at my life that they have kindly 'warned' me of.

They didn't even allow me to sightsee while in transit, fully isolated armored car and all.

So now I am here, bored to death while hooked on another health monitoring equipment for fifth day in a place I don't have the authority to know where is actually located. Doing nothing but watch the news about almost everything in the Vale colony, and by everything I mean countless numbers of differing levels of crime being conducted in a daily basis.

This is not a surprise really, since the heroes here in Vale are overwhelmed three to one on all sides.

Not like Mistral is any different.

Anyway, as I can't really go out because of the threat to my life, I have been left to introspect and learn about stuff from those people assigned on my observation and treatment. This then leads me to learn about two big things.

First, the issue about my illegal immigration.

Turns out Vale is quite lax on their colony hopping laws. Do well or do nothing and they would not bat an eye. Break the law within the walls, even a small one, and you would be exiled for eternity if you are lucky or a huntsman. It is a thousand times better than Vacuo's "Enter the gates and be prepared to get conscripted by the gangs", Mistral's intruders would be shot on sight policy, or even Atlas' "Snowcastle is watching you" level of oppression.

The good doctor has taken almost an hour trying to calm me down before that. Honestly, I was so consumed by panic that I have almost jumped out of the window to avoid any kind of legal punishment. After I calmed down and started listening… well, my embarrassment when I just sat there unbelieving of his explanation is something I would hide for the rest of eternity.

Luckily there are no cameras inside the rooms here. No need for me to sneak silently in the middle of the night to steal valuable recorded feed.

The second issue, on the other hand, I have learned by myself.

I am a huntsman.

It just happened really. One second I was trying to focus on the newest issue of Vale daily, the next second I was looking at a slightly glowing white sheet of force field barely resembling the newspaper I am supposed to be holding.

I just sat there looking at the glowing thing without a care in the world around me when the good doctor entered.

First day of knowing my power and I already outed myself.

He just stood there for almost the entire time, waiting for me to react. When I didn't, he started explaining some technobabble about semblance acquisition like nothing important just happened several minutes ago.

I am too frozen by shock back then to care for his odd behavior. I even forgotten everything he have said even though I am listening.

The only thing I remembered is the surprise that he is actually a retired hero from the government funded huntsman program, which slightly explains his strangeness. How he already knows that I am a huntsman _"about our knowledge of your powers, we actually have sensors advance enough to detect the active corona pollentia within an individual's brain."_ And the equally surprising recruitment pitch he has said immediately after the long explanation about the history of the Huntsman program.

Even today, I still can't believe what he has said back then.

I have a semblance.

I am a huntsman

A chance to become a real hero.

I immediately forgotten almost every single info-dump and B-movie level plot twists that would make a critic cry tears of disappointment that have happened. I was not even upset that the good doctor has known my supposed secret even before I learned about it myself.

I would become a hero after all. I still remember clearly how I rudely interrupted his tangent of explanations with a single sentence.

"I would like to be a real hero."

Just like that, and I can now be what I have always dreamed of. Damn, I'm even surprised at myself that I didn't shout that. Fighting crimes and saving lives, a symbol of peace and safety in a bleak world, sending criminals and terrorists alike to-

' _-Jaune Arc, hero of the common people'._ The television blared, throwing me away from my introspection.

' _-An unpowered teenager, who bravely faced the White Fang by himself-'_

I snorted in amusement, before looking at my two empty palms, ideas about my future already forming in my head.

I'm sorry to disappoint you common people, looks like I'm not a normal teenager anymore.

* * *

Three more days have passed before I am pulled out of that room, and I am ready to go. Turns out that they are only keeping me there for the news about me to blow up steam and cool down, because a temporarily famous person celebrated as a hero suddenly disappearing only for a new member of the local huntsman peacekeeping force to appear looks very suspicious.

Still doesn't explain all the hooked medical apparatus that makes moving a pain though.

The good doctor, I really should have ask his name someday, has allowed me to stay on his house temporarily. He said that he didn't even use the house due to his busy schedule, preferring to sleep and essentially live at work.

It shows, with the house brimming with cobwebs and white with dust. I immediately started cleaning all of it, taking me the whole day just to finish the whole thing. I slept that night feeling deceived into being a caretaker, which I know I should not be complaining about because free housing.

So I would not let past torments ruin my anticipation for today.

I looked up from my seat behind the good doctor's open roof car, seeing the towering fortress that is the Vale RHD's headquarters in a new light for the first time in my life, barely held excitement threatening to explode within me.

I would be a hero.

Nothing can ruin my day right now.

* * *

My day is now ruined.

The good doctor has said everything on the first day would be about formalities and records. You know, that boring paperwork needed for the bureaucracy to function. But I still expected it to be just a formal introduction of some sort with the few questions and paper signing in-between.

I have never expected how literal it would be.

I wrote everything about myself. My name, my age, and my status as an illegal colony hopper which they are too happy to ignore… they even made me write all the medical records that I have remembered, bank transactions while within the walls of Vale, every prior job I have, etcetera.

After that, they have me interviewed about everything I can tell them. _"Umm, can I just like, tell you my powers? Oh, no… wait, my whole life story?"_ pausing every now and then to ask mundane questions. _"Yup, running away from the Drift is hard to pull-off. But we have that one rogue that turns into some kind of bird to help us during our escape."_

And lastly, they have given me a pile of legal papers enough to be considered as a small book. Told me to sign several forms which are easy enough until they informed me that I would need to read every single word in it. It has taken me exactly 1 hour and 13 minutes to finish the whole bunch.

Yes, I counted. How the young redheaded employee that is tasked to guard me has shouted every single passing minute for her own amusement doesn't help at all.

Short story, it is torture under the guise of the colony's legal system.

Well, at the very least tomorrow would be better than this.

* * *

"So, Mr. Jaune Arc is it?" the good doctor said, amusement clear on his tone. He is sitting in front of me behind an intricate table made of wood. He is currently holding my signed papers, barely passing glances at it before putting it down at the table.

I hesitantly nodded.

"Can you tell me why you have chosen to apply as a member of the Vale Huntsman Program? Not that I'm complaining… just, out of my curiosity."

It has already been a day after my torturous encounter with the world of adult bureaucracy, and I still found myself exhausted by the event. When I got to the good doctor's car on the garage, he even laughed a little on my obvious disappointment.

All those papers and I'm not still legally considered as a part of the huntsman program. The only good thing that happened after that is the fact that I got my records verified and cleared with passing colors.

Now I am at the director's office to finalize my files and make my employment official. Oddly, I am left by the good doctor to travel by myself for some reason, something about a scheduled meeting of sort.

Now I know why.

"Director Ozpin" the redheaded guard I was assigned yesterday thankfully clarified. I pretended that I haven't heard her amused chuckle after saying that. I also pretended that she doesn't exist right now.

I looked back at the good doctor- no, the director with a strained smile. His unchanging smirk the same as always, looking innocent enough but hiding an amused knowledge that just shouts _'I know things about you that you didn't know'._

I sighed. No point on thinking about it now.

"Good afternoon director. My name is Jaune Arc, and I'm here because I wanted to be a hero."

* * *

Another day had passed, and now I am standing at the center of a large room. It is spacious, able to fit several basketball courts within its metal walls. Several machines that I can't seem to identify litter the corners of the room, and a single window at my left allows me to see the researchers doing their jobs. But other than that, the giant room is empty.

I smiled.

After the disaster that is my initial introduction to the world of being a hero, I was finally allowed to stretch my metaphorical muscle to say. Every single kid's favorite part when watching shows about huntsmen.

Power Testing.

I am excited, but anxious at the same time. I know that this would be where they would be writing the numbers. Where they would judge and know what division they would to put me to get the best out of my power:

Atlas; to those who would serve as the vanguard against the tides of darkness.

Beacon; to those who would build the foundation for a brighter future.

Shade; for those who would watch and protect from the shadows.

And Haven; to those who would ensure the safety of the common man.

Well… I don't know that I actually still have the broadcasted recruitment speech I've watched during my younger days memorized.

Anyway.

This would be my actual real entrance to the world of huntsman. My first ever step to becoming a real hero. No paperwork, no legalities, no interviews.

I raised my arm, focusing on the metal in front of me that I am touching.

Only me and my power.

And with a silent command and a mental pull of a metaphorical trigger, logic and reality shattered.

….

A week of anticipation and suffering later, and I can now meet my newest teammates.

I hope I would not look bad by unintentionally doing something horrible or embarrassing on my first day.

I gulped, looking back at the hallway mirror and examining myself yet again for the hundredth time after arriving at the base. I am waiting while doing nothing but sit, and the anxiety of meeting new people is already taking its toll on me.

I still don't have my costume, something about one of the two remaining tinkers on Vale's Beacon Division being too busy designing it so it would fit my PR theme while ensuring that it would synergize well with my power, so I am just wearing my normal civilian attire. The only clue that gives away my identity as a huntsman is the domino mask they have temporarily given me.

To be honest, I think my soon to be coworkers would be disappointed on how I look right now.

"Yo! You the new guy?"

I almost jumped on shock; looking up from my seat and seeing a long haired blonde girl wearing a tan, sleeveless leather jacket. Beneath her mostly open jacket is a simple white tank top, tacked in behind a cargo pants the same color of her jacket. On her arms are two metal gauntlets, tinkertech by the look of it.

I'm not going to say it, but her costume reminds me of a more subdued version of the attire most of Drift's huntsmen wore.

I didn't know how anyone can see that gear as heroic at all.

So instead of looking at her costume, I just looked her directly in the face, surprisingly bare and unhidden by any kind of masks. She is smiling like she just saw another one of her friend, scanning my whole body before looking me directly at the eyes.

She is either too trusting or too carefree. Not bothering on hiding her identity to a new member of the team she hasn't even met before.

"Umm… I might sound rude. But I think the protocol is supposed to be: introduce yourself to your team, know and interact with each other, then show your face if you trust them enough… and not the other way around? Or am I wrong?" I asked with worry.

Which only brighten her smile further.

"Protocols are more of a warning for those who want to break them. I only follow my common sense, and it's telling me right now that you are a trustworthy guy." She pointed one of her fingers at me. "Especially because of that hero thing you've done at the bookstore. I like that kind of guts."

What guts? That thing is stupidity, not guts. Not that I can't complain really, If not for that incident, I would not have gotten my powers.

But still, I need to correct her false assumption.

"Not really. I just have a stupid case of hero syndrome. I almost died back then." I countered, scratching at the back of my head.

She snorted. "Well, tell me one thing then. If you find yourself in that situation again-" I almost answered "And no… I know you have powers now, but I'm asking the theoretical. Would you do it again? Running towards danger without a care for yourself I mean?"

I paused, actually considering my answer. Would I do it again? Of course the answer is obvious.

"No." I said bluntly.

"What?" she replied sagely.

"I mean, no. I would not run straight into a pointed gun again. That's just stupid."

"But-" she almost answered, her smile almost gone.

"I would still gladly do it though, if it means saving people. But my point is that I would do it better than before. No more recklessness, no more putting myself and everyone else on danger." I smiled to her, now confidently. "After all, I won't be saving anyone if I'm dead."

She only looked at me speechless. Amazed on my brilliant ans-

I never saw the hit coming.

I landed face first into the ground, feeling a blunt pain in my shoulder.

Why? I thought my answer is good, right?

I painfully stood up to ask her politely, by politely I mean shout at her, only to see her laughing her heart out. I just stood there staring, looking at the hysterical girl as she continued her interpretation of a madman for several more minutes.

It took her several more to catch her own breathing.

"-ah. Ok… then. I like you, new guy. You would fit just fine in Vale's division for hitting things hard." She completely regained her momentum then, standing proud while scanning me once again. "Damn, I only pushed you gently, and you already fell. We need to work on that balance of yours. And maybe even more." Acting like she didn't just sputtered and acted immaturely several minutes ago.

She raised her right arm in front of her, which I now noticed is mechanical in nature. "Name's Yang, Relentless while on costume. Welcome to Vale's one and only RHD Atlas, I would be your supervisor on your first months after your debut in the huntsman scene."

I almost reached for the handshake, before stopping to do something else. I looked at her directly for several seconds, before quickly removing my domino mask.

After all, answer trust with trust or something like that.

I grabbed her hand in a handshake.

"Hi, I'm Jaune… Jaune Arc. I appreciate the warm welcome."

She snorted, this time more subdued that the others. She weakly hit me at my shoulder, before mentioning for me to follow her. She is smiling, too enthusiastic as she butchered explaining the function of almost every single room we've passed through.

I smiled at myself. What a good start at becoming a hero.

"Oh, I almost forgot. What's a better hero name, Shining Sword or Alabaster?"

She looked at me.

"Well, both are lame. Especially the latter, it just sounds wrong for some reason." She immediately said. Her smile is still unchanged, like she just casually spoke about the weather or something equally trivial.

I cringed "maybe not good of a start."

She laughed again.

* * *

 **Sorry for rushing several things on this chapter, I just don't really know how to write legalese so I just want to be done with it.**

 **I also noticed that the story is moving too fast. I'm only at the second chapter and it already goes from 'found out about his powers' to 'part of a hero team' already. I apologize for that. Hopefully, I can find my pace somewhere down the line and not rush things later on, but I can't really promise anything.**

 **Anyway, again... thanks for reading! Feel free to review and criticize.**


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